The Mangosteen Experience - Part Three of Five

The only reason I'm giving this only four stars is because it can feel a bit tacky when you first apply the lotion. I don't notice it, however, my daughter did when we did a test of two different brands/products. The oil helps to carry the scent very well but I wish the scent lasted longer.

My second favorite mangosteen product from DONA. (My first favorite is the body polish).

It is very important to note that when you see "Camu Camu" or "Pomegranate" or any other name on these products - these are NOT the names of the scent of the product. These are the names of the APHRODISIAC INGREDIENT that was used in the product. The scent may actually be quite different than the aphrodisiac that is listed. It is important to read several reviews to get a feeling from the reviewer of how the scent smells to them. A good example of this is Camu Camu which is a superfruit with a very high vitamin C content. In the Camu Camu products you would think this means a citrusy/fruity smell but that is not true for most of the reviewers on Eden and on the company's facebook page. Instead, Camu Camu is being described as a vanilla/coconut scent and one person (Cookie Monster Mike) is thinking he smells some pink lemonade in there. Needless to say, this will not be the Camu Camu scent that you would find in other products - like say Scenty's Camu Camu wickless candles. (I used to sell Scentsy and have the samples here).

The company does not give out a description of the scents either because they find them to be "indescribable" and different on each person as they wear them.

So please - as you read about these products, understand that what you might think is the "scent" is actually only the superfruit that is used in the product and not the intended scent description.

For those of you who have been following this series of reviews in order - since today is Valentine's Day I decided to move out of the "cleansing" ritual and into the "nourishing" ritual. For those who haven't been following this series of reviews, the rituals and products will be listed below.

Since today is Valentine's Day 2012, I decided to focus on DONA's mangosteen scented Body Mist Lotion. This is my second favorite product out of the five that I have tried so far, however, I know that when I describe it further on I may turn some people off to it. In fact, in some ways I myself have mixed feelings about it, I love the scent but not the texture as much. But let's get to that in a bit - ok?

The company has said that when their products have glycerin, it is vegetable-derived versus animal-derived. So if you have problems with glycerin, you might or might not have problems with this, depending upon how sensitive you are. I would suggest doing a patch test.

Secondly, and this is very important to remember. The bottle does not state this but the company's literature states that because this product contains moisturizing oil, care should be taken to not spray this on clothes. I have not done a patch test on my clothes because I don't want to risk ruining something. The company does have a lingerie wash and linen spray for those who do wish to use this scent on fabric.

My husband and I do not do massages so I am not sure that I would recommend this for a massage because I am not sure that it is thick enough or smooth enough to work well as a massage oil. In addition, the company does have massage oil in this scent and Eden Fantasys does carry it at this time.

First of all, this is a body MIST lotion. It is in a pump bottle and it comes out like a water-based spray only more oily. It is also not a perfume per say but a lotion. By this, I mean it does have the properties of a lotion to it - it is designed to moisturize your body. It is not designed to simply give your body the awesome mangosteen scent.

The easiest way though to describe how it comes out is to show you - so here goes.

As you can see, it comes out clear, foams a bit and bubbles as it hits the skin and drizzles unless you start to rub it in.

Let me start out this section by stating that I love the mangosteen scent as DONA has presented it in their product line. I found the body wash to be a bit of a "soapy" scent mixed in with the mangosteen but the body polish and the body mist lotion both have very clear notes of the mangosteen sweetness and fruit aroma.

When Cookie Monster Mike first described this scent to me, I knew I had to have it and ordered five products. What I didn't know is that his recommendation to me was based probably on one of the two "clearest" versions of the fragrance that DONA carries. Some of the other products have a bit of a soapy version of this scent - but the body polish and the mist are the best ways to experience the scent for the first time to see if you will like them. While I have not tried it, since the massage oil will be oil-based and not a soap, I am thinking that will be another way to experience the aroma of mangosteen without the addition of a soapy (but non-chemical) fragrance.

So how do I describe it? Well when I hear about fruit fragrances, I think of certain families. There is the citrus family, the apple/pear family, the berry family, the tropical family of pineapple/coconut/banana and finally the melon family. Mind you, I have no scientific proof of these families, this is just the way my mind and nose categorize the scents.

When I opened my body polish for the first time, my mind started going through the families. While this was sweet, it definitely wasn't sweet enough to be berries. It wasn't tart enough to be citrus. There was no hint of apple/pears and I didn't really smell the tropical family at all. I finally came to the conclusion that this is more of a scent from the melon family. However, it isn't a cucumber/melon combination like you usually experience. This is a sweeter version of a melon.

Of course, it helps that mangosteen is really a fruit!

So now that you know it is a sweet fruity melon scent, let me talk about how it lasts. The fragrance is very strong when you spray it onto your skin. For 30-45 seconds the scent stays as strong. However, as you start to rub the mist lotion into your skin, the scent lightens and about 10-15 minutes you are left with the base notes of something that is sort of sweet and addicting but it is so light that you have to bring your arm to your nose to really get a good whiff of it.

This scent is stronger if you layer it by starting out with either the body polish or the body wash (or both) and then move on to using the lotion - but even when you do that, the scent will be a very soft scent.

Now there is an upside to this and a downside to this. First of all, you won't have a "signature scent" that people will pick up on when they pass by you. Oh, they might get a whiff of something soft and comforting - but it won't stand out to where people are saying, "What perfume are you wearing?" Sorry!

However, if you prefer to use non-fruity (or even fruity) scents that are perfumes, if you were to wait for about 15 minutes after applying this lotion for the scent to dissipate a bit, you will find that the base notes of this product will probably add a slight sweetness to whatever fragrance you choose to add on top of it. That can be a plus.

The moisturizing effects of this product are great. My skin feels soft for hours and hours afterwards. Other than wanting to smell more of this addicting fragrance, I really don't need to apply more. I just like to apply it - a lot.

My daughter and I tried this product with this on one arm and the other product on another arm. I will be posting a review for the other product later today. We tried both products at the same time because both are oil-based lotions that are scented. I noticed some things about this product that I would not have noticed without doing the experiment.

First of all, this lotion sprays on a bit thicker (and foams up) whereby the other product is more light and drizzles down your arm. Secondly, while the other product (to clarify - it is NOT by DONA) feels like baby oil and is very oily; this product feels tackier and has more drag to it as you run your hand across your arm. This product doesn't feel as greasy or oily as the other one (which as I stated - feels like baby oil) but it doesn't feel quite as soft to my daughter, while to me, this product feels softer than the other product on me.

Because this item can feel tacky (which as I state, I didn't even notice until we tried both sprays at the same time), I am only giving it four stars. Personally, the tacky feeling doesn't bother me and I don't notice it really, however, my daughter does notice the difference, even an hour later. She states that it is a minor difference and she wouldn't notice it if I wasn't asking her to compare them now.

This comes in a 9 ounce pump bottle and sprays out a translucent oil-based spray. Here is a picture of the bottle next to a 20 ounce bottle of water.

I thought I'd also show you how this looks next to the other DONA products that I have:

Although the bottles state that this product is "aphrodisiac-infused", I find the labels to be tasteful enough that I wouldn't mind displaying the bottles in the open in my bathroom or on my desk - or giving them as a gift. However, I don't find the labels overly-informative, particularly where this bottle does not warn people to not spray this on their clothing.

I am thinking about buying a travel size empty pump bottle and putting some of this in it so I can carry it in my purse and update my scent a bit if I'm running errands. However, I may wait and get some of the perfume gel if Eden Fantasys starts carrying it in the near future. I am not sure exactly what size that product is.

In addition,I have found out that mangosteen is used in two "fragrances" that folks may recognize. I have never heard of the first fragrance and I do not know how easy it is to find these fragrances. However, I want to share them here so that if you recognize them and have smelled them, it might give you an idea of what mangosteen smells like when used in a fragrance.

For men, the product Paradox for Men by Jacomo uses mangosteen as one of the three scents that are part of the middle notes of the fragrance. This fragrance came out in 1999.

For women, With Love by Hilary Duff which came out in 2006, uses mangosteen as the middle note in the fragrance along with Cocobolo wood.

I'm also researching the other scents in the Dona line for future reviews.

I saved this section to discuss my conversation today with an Eden Fantasys customer service representative. I had to call Eden about a problem with an order and while speaking with the representative, I was going on and on about the DONA products. I asked her if she knew or could find out if Eden would be carrying more of the product lines. She asked me if I was willing to hold while she checked with the stock manager.

When she got back to me and shared the answer, I asked for permission to share it with y'all and she gave it.

So...here is how Eden works when they introduce a new product line. Eden will usually pick up some of the product line to try and see if their customers like it. I am assuming they will try to get the most popular product types (or the newest product types) and scents - but honestly, I don't know how they make their choices. I mean - HOW COULD THEY NOT HAVE GOTTEN THE BODY BUTTER????

Anyway, they then monitor the sales for the next couple of months. They know that initially there will be surge of sales as people try the new product but the question becomes, "will there be enough of an interest in this to continue to carry it?"

Now I know that all of us want all of everything and we want Eden to offer it now. However, I do remember from my business management classes years ago that it costs Eden time, space and money to put their money into inventory that may not sell very quickly. They have to create space in the warehouse, update their databases, etc. etc. etc. Bringing in a new product line - particularly when there are 20 products and most are in all 6 scents - is not an easy task and it isn't always economically feasible for Eden to do something like this and continue to give us the awesome points and review program that we have here.

The customer service rep didn't state that - I am stating it.

So - I am guessing that Eden will be waiting another month or so to see if there will be continued demand for the DONA products or if it will die down.

As for me - I'm probably buying one of every product that I can because I love the quality and the scents (as far as I know). I know that when I placed my order today, I ordered the body mist lotion in two more scents plus the candle in the mangosteen scent so I can keep it on my desk and put my body polish back in the bathroom instead of leaving it open on the desk so I can frequently sniff it.

I hope this helps anyone who may be wondering why Eden doesn't carry the full line and when we might see them carrying more of the products.

I want to take a moment to deal with the topic if aphrodisiacs. Nowadays, companies are claiming to put aphrodisiacs in their products and I can't find proof online one way or another about how effective the ingredients that they use are. I would go by my own experience - but my husband can walk in the door - smell me making coffee - and be drawn to me. Does that suddenly mean coffee is an aphrodisiac?

In addition, we all have different sensations of smell. This was pointed out to me when one person pointed out that one of my favorite scents from Eden (Island Hopping) smelled to them like dead skunk in the road because they picked up on the musk which I barely noticed because the high notes of the pineapple and coconut were what hit me.

For more information on aphrodisiacs, please feel free to read the special features on my part one review for the mangosteen experience and follow the links I give there.

As for me, I'm basing my ratings and comments simply upon how the product performs as a cleanser/body polish/body mist lotion, etc and how the scent smells to me as a woman. I am pretty much taking the whole "aphrodisiac" portion out of the equation.

This content is the opinion of the submitting contributor and is not endorsed by EdenFantasys.com

About author

Reviewed by
Hot 'N Sexy TexasMama(Eden Writer)Never too old to learn or play with my hubby

Bravo! *Claps* Awesome review I love it. Comparisons, details, an actual description on the aroma! Very thorough and helpful. I personally don't feel I would enjoy the tacky feeling if I were to experience it. Good to know this comes out more like a water-based spray. I think there are no questions I have in terms of anything else I wan't to know. Although I CANNOT WAIT for Eden to carry the body butter, I will be receiving mine hopefully today. So if Eden eventually carries it I will definitely be reviewing it! Again, awesome work!

02/14/2012

Hot 'N Sexy TexasMama

I realized I forgot to add the photos to show just how oily this is. I peeled back the label a bit to show this product.

Sorry for the two photos but I can't tell right now which one shows it better!

02/14/2012

Cookie Monster Mike

Real fast before I head into work, you could get a small bowl of water, and add a teaspoon of this to it, to show the ratio of oil that settles/bubbles at the top of the water.

02/14/2012

- Kira -

This was such a helpful review! I was thinking this was more of a body mist product than a spray lotion/oil for some reason. Now I'm not sure I want it. I'm especially concerned that you say it feels greasy. I can't stand greasy products. I'm not too big on spray lotions anyhow. I always end up with most of it sprayed on the floor rather than me!! They need to make a body mist of this and the other scents.

Interesting info on how they pick up the product lines. Glad you asked and glad they let you share the info!

02/14/2012

TheSinDoll

This is a great review and very informative. I don't like that tacky feeling AT ALL. I want something to sink into my skin immediately. SUCH a good review!

02/14/2012

Hot 'N Sexy TexasMama

I just want to remind everyone that I did not feel tacky. My daughter even stated that she probably would not have noticed if we hadn't been very deliberately testing the products to compare them. In addition - she said it was tacky compared to the other product (which I'm also reviewing today) which was oily.

See why I was hesitant to talk about this?

02/14/2012

Hot 'N Sexy TexasMama

Ok - here are the results of Mike's suggested tests for this product and two other products.